Means for applying an article carrier to a plurality of articles

ABSTRACT

An article carrier having a plurality of apertures therein is applied to a plurality of articles in such manner that a part of each article is enveloped within one of the apertures by a machine which includes conveyor means for moving a group of articles arranged in side by side relationship into a loading station, a vertically reciprocable plunger disposed above the loading station, a carrier holder normally supported by said plunger and having at least one cavity therein for receiving and holding a carrier in substantially fixed relation relative to the holder, and article positioning means movable with said holder for engaging the articles at the loading station so as to align each article with an aperture in the carrier so that subsequent downward movement of said plunger drives the carrier out of said cavity downwardly to cause each article to be enveloped within one aperture in the holder.

[ Jan. 14, 1975 United States Patent Calvert et a1.

3,680,279 3/1972 Picq 53/26 MEANS FOR APPLYING AN ARTICLE CARRIER TO APLURALITY 0F ARTICLES [75] Inventors: Rodney K. Calvert oo y PrimaryExaminer-Robert L. Spruill Alton J. Fishback Austen, both of Attorney,Agent, or Fzrm Walter M. Rodgers Ga. [57] ABSTRACT An article carrierhaving a plurality of apertures [73] Assignee: The Mead Corporation,Dayton,

Ohio

therein is applied to a plurality of articles in such man- [22] Filed:N0 9, 1973 ner that a part of each article is enveloped within one ofthe apertures by a machine which includes con- PP No.1 414,032 veyormeans for moving a group of articles arranged in side by siderelationship into a loading station, a vertically reciprocable plungerdisposed above the [52] 1.1.8. 53/48, 53/49, 53/196 B6513 21/00, B65b27/04 loading station, a carrier holder normally supported by saidplunger and having at least one cavity therein for [51] Int. [58] Fieldof Search.............

receiving and holding a carrier in substantially fixed 53/3 relationrelative to the holder, and article positioning [56] References Citedmeans movable with said holder for engaging the arti- UNITED STATESPATENTS cles at the loading station so as to align each article with anaperture in the carrier so that subsequent downward movement of saidplunger drives the carrier out of said cavity downwardly to cause eacharticle to be enveloped within one aperture in the holder.

7 Claims, 14 Drawing Figures Reifsnyder..........,...........

PATENTED JAN 1 4 i975 SHEH 30F PATENTEDJAK14'BY5, 3,859,173

SHEET 8 OF 6 aw f) MEANS FOR APPLYING AN ARTICLE CARRIER TO A PLURALITYOF ARTICLES Article carriers are known which are provided with aperturesor with slots about their edges and which are arranged so that anarticle is enveloped within an aperture or slot and such carriers may beused to package primary packages such as flanged cans as well as bottleshaving tapered neck portions and having flanges at their upper ends. Onearrangement for packaging bottles in a carrier having slots or socketsdisposed about its edges is disclosed and claimed in US. Pat. No.2,936,558. The arrangement disclosed in this patent is not operable foruse in conjunction with carriers having apertures therein asdistinguished from slots or sockets due to the fact that the alignmentmeans of that patent is supported by a transverse element which isreceived slidably within the slots of the carrier. Thus if a carrier isprovided with apertures as distinguished from slots, the arrangement ofUS. Pat. No. 2,936,558 as disclosed in that patent cannot be usedbecause there is no provision for accommodating the transverse memberwhich supports the article aligning means. In US. Pat.

No. 2,936,558 a fluid motor is provided for imparting verticallyreciprocable motion to bottle aligning means whereby bottles arranged ina group are precisely positioned. Following this operation, a ram isdriven by a second fluid motor into engagement with an article carrierin such manner as to drive the carrier downwardly and to cause the slotsor sockets about its periphery to receive the necks of the alignedbottles. This action requires that the slots slide downwardly inenveloping relationship relative to the bottle alignment means.

According to the present invention, a machine is provided which isadaptable for applying an article carrier having apertures therein insuch manner that the upper part of each article is received within andenveloped by one aperture in secure and snugly gripping relationship.Alignment means for precisely positioning the articles prior to downwardenveloping movement of the carrier relative to the articles in the formof alignment means normally supported by a carrier holder which itselfis normally supported by a vertically reciprocable plunger driven by asingle fluid motor. Thus with a group of articles disposed at a loadingstation and with one or more carriers fixed in position within theholder and with the bottles aligned with the apertures in the holder bythe action of the bottle aligning means, subsequent downward motion ofthe plunger drives the carrier downwardly and out of the holder to causethe upper portion of each article to become enveloped by one aperture inthe carrier.

While the invention is shown and described in conjunction with bottleshaving tapered neck portions and flanges near their upper ends, it willbe understood that the invention is not limited thereto and may be usedwith obvious modifications to package a plurality of cans having flangesor outwardly projecting chimes disposed at their upper ends.

For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be had to thefollowing detailed description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings in which FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a machineconstructed according to this invention; FIG. 1A is a perspective viewof a package formed by the machine constructed according to thisinvention; FIG. 2 is a frontal view of the machine shown in FIG. 1 andtaken generally from the same general vantage point as FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an end view of the machine shown in FIGS. 1 and as the machineappears from the right hand side of FIG. 2; FIG. 4 is an enlarged viewof a portion of the machine as viewed in FIG. 2 and which shows thevertically reciprocable plunger, the carrier holder suspended from theplunger structure together'with article positioning means mounted on andmovable with the holder; FIG. 5 is a cross sectional view taken alongthe line designated 5-5 in FIG. 4; FIG. 6 is an enlarged sectional viewtaken along the line designated 6--6 in FIG. 4 and with a portionthereof broken away; FIG. 6A is a fragmentary detailed view of amodified arrangement for use in conjunction with the structure of FIG.6; FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a carrier which is applied to a groupof articles in accordance with this invention; FIG. 8 is an enlargedcross sectional view taken along the line designated 88 in FIG. 5; FIG.9 is a plan view of the carrier shown in FIG. 7 which shows therelationship of the carrier to a feeder element which draws thelowermost carrier from a hopper and feeds it into the holder; FIG. 10 isa front view of FIG. 9; FIG. 11 is a view from below looking upwardly ofthe plunger structure which engages and drives the carriers intocooperative relationship relative to a group of articles and in whichFIG. 12 is a perspective view of a component structure from which thearrangement shown in FIG. 11 -is formed.

The machine of this invention is for the purpose of applying a carriersuch as is designated at C in FIG. 7 to a plurality of articles such asare designated B to form a completed package such as is shown in FIG.1A.

The carrier C is constructed with a body portion designated by thenumeral 1 which is relatively rigid and which is provided with aplurality of apertures 2, 3 and 4. The portions of the carrier C whichdefine these apertures are semi-rigid although "the parts of the bodyportion of the carrier which engage and envelope the necks of thepackaged bottles are yieldable as is well understood in the art. Theside portions of the carrier C are relatively yieldable and in thedrawings are designated generally by the numerals 5 and 6. Theseyieldable side portions can be folded upwardly to provide a handlemember for manually gripping the carrier and for facilitatingportability. The flexible side portions 5 and 6 of the carrier perform ayieldable holding function for supporting and then releasing the carrierfrom its holder during a package forming operation as will be explainedin detail hereinafter.

The machine of this invention comprises conveyor means generallydesignated by the numeral 7 which conveys a group of articles to bepackaged into a loading station generally designated by the letter S inFIG. 1 and which upon completion of a loading operation discharges oneor more loaded carriers generally toward the right and onto an outfeedconveyor not shown in the drawings. Carriers as shown in FIG. 7 arestacked one atop another in a hopper structure generally designated bythe numeral 8. The lowermost carrier in one I or more stacks of carriersin the hopper is fed from right to left as viewed in FIG. 3 by feedermeans generally designated by the numeral 9 into a carrier holdergenerally designated by the numeral 10 as best seen in FIG. 1 and isheld in fixed relationship relative thereto. Article positioning meansgenerally designated by the numeral 11 as is best shown in FIG. 2 issupported on a plunger generally designated by the numeral 12 and servesto align the articles disposed in the container generally designated bythe numeral 13 in such manner that one aperture in each article carrieris disposed in substantially vertical alignment with an article disposedin container 13. The article positioning means 11, supported by theplunger 12 by a lost-motion relationship together with the carrierholder are reciprocated vertically by the fluid motor generallydesignated by the numeral 14 whose piston end is vertically reciprocableand secured to plunger 12.

Thus downward motion of plunger 12 causes the article positioning means11 first to engage and align the articles within the case 13 at stationS. Thereafter continued downward movement of the plunger 12 causes theplunger to engage and drive one or more article carriers out of theholder 10 and into enveloping relationship with the articles in the case13.

Conveyor 7 comprises a plurality of idler rollers 15 journally mountedin parallel frame elements 16 and 17. Preferably a driving belt or othersuitable means is disposed below and is frictionally related with therollers 15. The upper working reach of this endless belt moves fromright to left as viewed in FIGS. 1 and 2 and imparts clockwise rotationto rollers 15 and thus conveys a series of containers such as 13 towardthe loading station S. A plurality of conveyor elements such as thechains 18 and 19 receive a case such as 13 from the rollers 15 andposition that case atop an intermediate conveyor disposed immediatelyunderneath the case 13 but not shown in detail in FIG. 1 and on which aplurality of feeder lugs 20 are mounted. The lugs 20 move by incrementsin such manner as to position a case at the loading station S as shownat 1 3 for example in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3. Each case such as 13 is guidedagainst transverse movement by a pair of longitudinal spaced apart,parallel, fixed guides 21. These guides at their infeed ends havebeveled portions on their inner surfaces as indicated at 22. Themechanism which imparts movement to conveyor rollers 15 and to conveyorsl8 and 19 as well as to the incrementally movable conveyor and itsassociated lugs 20 includes a motor M and its associated gear box G anddriving chains not shown in detail all as is well known in the art. Theconveyor mechanism 7 and its driving means is disposed within a housingdesignated by the numeral 23 which is supported at its corners byadjustable feet 24, 25 and 26 only three of which appear, the fourthfoot not being shown in the drawings.

For supporting the hopper 8, and other operative elements of themachine, vertical support elements 27, 28, 29 and 30 are secured to theframe of the machine and horizontally disposed structural supportelements 31, 32, 33 and 34 are disposed atop the vertical struts 27-30.

The hopper structure generally designated by the numeral 8 is providedwith vertically disposed laterally spaced slats such as are depicted at35, 36, 37 and 38 in FIG. 1. A particular carrier such as is shown forexample in FIG. 7 is mounted between the struts 35 and 36 on one sideand the struts 37 and 38 on the other side and the lowermost carrierelement in each stack of elements is forced from underneath the hoppertoward the left as viewed in FIG. 3 by the feeder means generallydesignated by the numeral 9.

As is best shown in FIG. 10, each feeder element 39 is provided with ashoulder 40 which defines a lower level 41 and an upper level 42. Thuswhen the shoulder 40 engages the trailing portion such as 43 of thelowermost carrier in a stack, this carrier is pushed out from underneaththe hopper and toward the right as viewed in FIG. 10. Feeder element 39is provided with a pair of hooks designated by the numerals 44 and 45which enter the slits 46 and 47 in the carrier C as best shown in FIG.9. Thus either the shoulder 40 or one or both of the hooks 44 and 45will engage its associated part of the carrier such as the trailing part43 or the notches 46 and 47 to insure a positive engagement between thefeeder element 39 and the lowermost carrier in the hopper. As shown inthe drawings, the hopper includes a plurality of upstanding slats asbest shown in FIG. 2. Four different stacks of article carriers areaccommodated by the machine as shown in the drawings.

Horizontal reciprocatory motion is imparted to feeder element 39 bymeans of fluid motor FM having one end mounted on base pivot BP affixedto the frame structure and which is interconnected at pivot P1 with lineL1 which in turn is pivoted at fixed pivot P2 supported by suitableframe structure. Link Ll at its lower end is connected to link L2 bypivot P3. Thus operation of fluid motor FM rotates link Ll about pivotP2 and imparts reciprocatory motion to link L2 which by virtue of itsconnection at P4 to feeder lug 39 is moved in and out of the holder 10from left to right as viewed in FIG. 3.

Upon completion of a feeding stroke, one ormore carriers is insertedinto a cavity formed within the holder 10. As best seen in FIGS. 4 and5, base plate 48 of the carrier holder 10 is provided with openings 49,50, 51 and 52 over which the corresponding carriers C are disposed.Carrier Cl is arranged atop opening 49 and between side walls 53 and 54between which the yieldable portions 5 and 6 of carrier C1 areinterposed. Holder top plate 55 overlies the side walls 53 and 54 andthus defines with these walls and with base plate 48 a cavity into whichcarrier C1 is inserted by feeder element 39. A fixed pin 56 is securedin base plate 48 and engages a leading edge portion 57 of carrier Cl andthus determines the limit of inward travel of carrier Cl due to feedingmovement of feeder element 39. The trailing edge 58 of carrier C1 isengaged by the vertical portion 59 of spring 60 which is secured by bolt61 within a slot 62 formed in base plate 48. The inherent bias of spring50 urges that spring toward its upper carrier holding position as shownin FIG. 8. Thus when clip Cl is moved into its cavity, the spring 61 isinitially depressed. When the trailing edge 58 of carrier CI passes overthe edge 59 of the spring 60, spring 60 springs upwardly into theposition shown in FIG. 8 and thus limits backward movement of carrierCl. Thus by the side, bottom and top walls of the cavity into whichcarrier C1 is inserted together with the fixed stop 56 and the yieldablespring 60, the carrier C1 is fixed in position relative to the holder inaccordance with one facet of this invention.

Of course carriers C2, C3 and C4 are fixed in position with theirrespective cavities in a manner described in detail in connection withcarrier C1.

With the carriers fixed in position in the holder, it is necessary toinsure that the apertures in each holder are aligned with thecorresponding articles within the container 13 at the loading statin S.To this end article positioning means 11 is affixed securely to holder10 and as best shown in FIGS. 4 and 11 comprises longitudinally disposedbars 65 and 66 and transversely disposed bars 67, 68, 69, 70 and 71suspended by Vertical struts such as are indicated at 72 from the baseplate 48 of the carrier holder 12.

For engaging the outer sides of the container 13, a plurality of fingerssuch as F1 and F2 are provided and are securely affixed in any suitablemanner to the article positioning means 11 as by bolts or other means.

Thus as is indicated in FIGS. 4 and 6 downward motion of plunger 12 isaccompanied initially by downward motion of holder 10 and of articlepositioning means 11. When fingers F1 and F2 engage container 13 andwhen the longitudinal and transverse article engaging bars 65-71 engagethe tapered shoulders of the bottles B disposed within container 13, thebottles are shifted somewhat and are aligned with the apertures 2, 3 and4 of carriers C as depicted somewhat schematically in FIG. 11. After thearticle positioning means 11 performs its article aligning function, itslower limit of travel and that of holder 10 are reached and the plunger12 continues its downward motion by virtue of the lost motionassociation between plunger plate 74 and corner posts 75 which posts aresecurely affixed to carrier holder plate 48 at the corners thereof andwhich bear a slidable connection with the plunger plate 74. Thus afterthe alignment structure 11 and the carrier holder 12 reach their lowerlimit of travel, the plunger plate 74 continues its downward travel andthe plunger bars 76, 77, 78 and 79 which are securely affixed in anysuitable manner to the plate 74 continue their downward motion untilthese bars engage the body portions 1 of the associated carriers.Continued downward motion after this engagement takes place causes theside portions 5 and 6 of each carrier C to bend upwardly due toengagement with the side ledges such as 48A and 48B of each cavity suchas that associated with carrier C1. The carrier such as CI is forcedthrough the opening 49 and is urged downwardly so that aperture 2 forexample in carrier C1 envelopes the cap 80 and upper portion of the neckof the bottle of BI while the cap 80 of bottle BI is received into thegenerally circular recess 81 formed in plunger bar 76. The lower limitof the stroke of the plunger 12 is depicted in FIG. 6 and carrier Cl isshown in that figure in loaded position. Of course the three remainingcarriers are also fully loaded at this limit of travel. Upon completionof a loading operation, the fluid motor 14 is reversed and drives theplunger 12, the article positioning means 11 and the carrier holder I0upwardly to their uppermost positions and the machine is ready toinitiate a succeeding cycle of operation.

We claim:

1. A machine for applying an article carrier having a plurality ofapertures therein to a plurality of articles so that a part of eacharticle is enveloped by one aperture, said machine comprising conveyormeans for moving a group of articles arranged in side by siderelationship into a loading station, a vertically reciprocable plungerdisposed above said loading station, a carrier holder supported by saidplunger by a lost motion relationship and movable between a carrierreceiving position above the tops of the articles to a carrier applyingposition in proximity to the tops of the articles and having at leastone carrier cavity therein for receiving a carrier and for holding saidcarrier in substantially fixed position relative to said holder, andarticle positioning means movable downwardly with said carrier holderand engageable with the upper portions of a group of articles todetermine its lower limit of travel and so as to align the articles withthe apertures in the carrier in coordination with downward movement ofsaid plunger toward the group of articles, said plunger being engageablewith the carrier and being effective to drive the carrier out of itscavity in said holder and to cause the apertures therein to envelopeparts of the articles respectively following alignment of the articleswith the apertures respectively.

2. A machine according to claim 1 wherein the carrier is inserted intosaid holder by a horizontally reciprocable feeder element which engagesand moves the carrier into said cavity and wherein such movement islimited by stop means in said cavity which engages the carrier at thelimit of its horizontal travel and wherein a yieldable stop element isdisposed in the path of horizontal movement of the carrier and is movedout of such path upon engagement with a leading part of the carrier butwhich moves behind a trailing part of the carrier upon engagement of thecarrier with said stop means thereby to prevent reverse movement of thecarrier relative to said holder.

3. A machine according to claim 2 wherein the cavity in said holderincludes side walls engageable with side portions of the carrier in snugrelationship thereby to prevent relative transverse movement between thecarrier and said holder.

4. A machine according to claim 2 wherein the carrier is inserted intosaid holder by said feeder element when said holder and plunger aredisposed at approximately the upper limit of their travel.

5. A machine according to claim I wherein said cavity is defined in partby side ledges which are engageable by yieldable side portions of thecarrier and wherein a discharge opening is formed in a bottom portion ofsaid holder intermediate said side ledges through which the carrier isdriven by said plunger into cooperative engagement with the articles.

6. A machine according to claim 1 wherein said article positioning meanscomprises a plurality of spaced bars and wherein said plunger comprisesa plurality of plunger bars arranged to move downwardly between saidspaced bars to effect a carrier loading operation, said plunger barshaving recesses to accommodate the tops of the articles when saidplunger is in its lowered position.

7. A machine according to claim 1 wherein the articles are disposedwithin an open top container having bottom, side and end walls andwherein downwardly extending fingers are mounted on said carrier holderand adapted to engage the outer sides of said container when saidcarrier holder is in its carrier applying position.

1. A machine for applying an article carrier having a plurality ofapertures therein to a plurality of articles so that a part of eacharticle is enveloped by one aperture, said machine comprising conveyormeans for moving a group of articles arranged in side by siderelationship into a loading station, a vertically reciprocable plungerdisposed above said loading station, a carrier holder supported by saidplunger by a lost motion relationship and movable between a carrierreceiving position above the tops of the articles to a carrier applyingposition in proximity to the tops of the articles and having at leastone carrier cavity therein for receiving a carrier and for holding saidcarrier in substantially fixed position relative to said holder, andarticle positioning means movable downwardly with said carrier holderand engageable with the upper portions of a group of articles todetermine its lower limit of travel and so as to align the articles withthe apertures in the carrier in coordination with downward movement ofsaid plunger toward the group of articles, said plunger being engageablewith the carrier and being effective to drive the carrier out of itscavity in said holder and to cause the apertures therein to envelopeparts of the articles respectively following alignment of the articleswith the apertures respectively.
 2. A machine according to claim 1wherein the carrier is inserted into said holder by a horizontallyreciprocable feeder element which engages and moves the carrier intosaid cavity and wherein such moVement is limited by stop means in saidcavity which engages the carrier at the limit of its horizontal traveland wherein a yieldable stop element is disposed in the path ofhorizontal movement of the carrier and is moved out of such path uponengagement with a leading part of the carrier but which moves behind atrailing part of the carrier upon engagement of the carrier with saidstop means thereby to prevent reverse movement of the carrier relativeto said holder.
 3. A machine according to claim 2 wherein the cavity insaid holder includes side walls engageable with side portions of thecarrier in snug relationship thereby to prevent relative transversemovement between the carrier and said holder.
 4. A machine according toclaim 2 wherein the carrier is inserted into said holder by said feederelement when said holder and plunger are disposed at approximately theupper limit of their travel.
 5. A machine according to claim 1 whereinsaid cavity is defined in part by side ledges which are engageable byyieldable side portions of the carrier and wherein a discharge openingis formed in a bottom portion of said holder intermediate said sideledges through which the carrier is driven by said plunger intocooperative engagement with the articles.
 6. A machine according toclaim 1 wherein said article positioning means comprises a plurality ofspaced bars and wherein said plunger comprises a plurality of plungerbars arranged to move downwardly between said spaced bars to effect acarrier loading operation, said plunger bars having recesses toaccommodate the tops of the articles when said plunger is in its loweredposition.
 7. A machine according to claim 1 wherein the articles aredisposed within an open top container having bottom, side and end wallsand wherein downwardly extending fingers are mounted on said carrierholder and adapted to engage the outer sides of said container when saidcarrier holder is in its carrier applying position.